Student Hardship 2022 - How Was It For You?

[Grant Fondo]

My heart goes out to students reportedly now paying (on average) £924 per month on rent, food, bills etc.

I know student numbers are now way higher than when I was at Uni in the 80's, meaning HM Government can no longer support 'free' secondary education, but this current cost of living crisis is taking its toll, 10% of all UK students are now using food banks.

Winding the clock back 30 odd years, the District Council where I lived in my second year paid ALL my rent, and ALL of the travel costs for the 20 mile round trip from my digs to Uni. A full grant from my hometown County Council, with additional equipment grants, Uni to home travel six times a year, field trip grants etc. covered off all the rest, while my Local Authority would pay unemployment benefit during the vacations (if I wasn't working). Overly generous by The State? Probably.

So how was it for you back in the day? Or how rough is it for you now?

 

[Spiderweb]

It’s rough for parents of students for sure. My youngest daughter is at college in Essex, her rent costs me £500/month, £90/week for food etc plus gas and electric so over £1000/month. Luckily she is in her final year.

Edit - We do get a grant of £1300/term to help with the costs.

 

[Grant Fondo]

It’s rough for parents of students for sure. My youngest daughter is at college in Essex, her rent costs me £500/month, £90/week for food etc plus gas and electric so over £1000/month. Luckily she is in her final year.

So that seems to back-up that average figure? Presumably a student in central London is forking out daft money?

 

[cougie uk]

It’s rough for parents of students for sure. My youngest daughter is at college in Essex, her rent costs me £500/month, £90/week for food etc plus gas and electric so over £1000/month. Luckily she is in her final year.

Blimey - we weren't supporting Cougie Jr to that level at all ? Maybe 1/3 of that.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

It's a while ago now but IIRC my student grant was ~£600/yr with course fees paid direct by Local Authority.

Also beer was 14p/pint at the Student Union bar but a whopping 15p/pint out in the commercial world

 

[Kingfisher101]

It’s rough for parents of students for sure. My youngest daughter is at college in Essex, her rent costs me £500/month, £90/week for food etc plus gas and electric so over £1000/month. Luckily she is in her final year.

I thought students got loans now which cover Both tuition and living costs? Are you paying all that so she doesnt have to take out much of a loan? Loads of parents wont be able to pay anything like this.

 

[PK99]

When I was at uni, 74/77, I was on Full Grant, claimed dole in xmas and easter holidays and worked each summer. I was very comfortable.

Kids of wealthy parents were better off.

Kids of working middle class families were often a lot worse off as parents could not afford to make up their kids reduced grant.

 

[Grant Fondo]

Kids of wealthy parents were better off.

Yes, even though we were relatively well off, there was always 'the other half'. I used to park my knackered old Morris Minor next to a light blue Ferrari sometimes. Owned by a fellow 19 year old student on my course

 

[Grant Fondo]

lso beer was 14p/pint at the Student Union bar

When was that, 1925?
Kidding aside, and with an NUS card discount (of course), we could get a vindaloo, pilau rice, naan bread and a pint of Kingfisher for £4 at one of the local emporiums. Happy days

 

[Milkfloat]

I think my era was between the gravy train that came before me and penury after. I got a grant for my first year and then paid my own way for 3 years after by working a door, pulling pints and random weekend security work. I came out with a small amount of debt which actually grew quite a bit in my first year of proper employment. I am now saving furiously and hoping that my daughter does not decide on a University in London or the US.

 

[Grant Fondo]

I think my era was between the gravy train that came before me and penury after. I got a grant for my first year and then paid my own way for 3 years after by working a door, pulling pints and random weekend security work. I came out with a small amount of debt which actually grew quite a bit in my first year of proper employment. I am now saving furiously and hoping that my daughter does not decide on a University in London or the US.

The only 'blip' for me was fees/grant payment on the post graduate course. It was touch and go as to whether the House of Lords would pass the Bill. They duly did, but it delayed payments for a month, so we received a 'hardship fund' in the interim to tide us over. Hardship? Bloody ridiculous, I had been working for Barclays Bank all summer and was minted.

 

[Brandane]

I don't have a student.......

 

[Brandane]

I don't have a student.......

And never was one myself. A fully sponsored apprenticeship as a deck officer cadet with P&O. Which was great for the first 2 years until we were all told we were wasting our time as there were going to be no jobs at the end of the 4 years. So I treated year 3 as a way of seeing some of the world while getting paid. Then jumped ship and joined the Police. Sadly I jumped ship in the UK rather than NZ/Australia, like the clever ones did!

 

[DCLane]

When I did my undergrad degree I didn't get a grant, and funding was a mixture of self-funding plus parents contributing £100 a month. But my rent was £16 a week (coastal town in NI) and I could afford to run a car.

Student loans came in whilst I was a student as I protested against them.

Son no. 1 has just finished a 4-year Master's and lived incredibly frugally. Even so it's cost him £600 a month in Lincoln.

Son no. 2 heads to university tomorrow in Nottingham and it's likely to cost him £1200+ a month as he has a car plus his bike racing.

As we gave them each a lump sum at 18, having saved £70 a month from birth, we're not funding either of them. However, a family member kindly is giving them a decent amount for each year at university and son no. 2 has got a funded academic scholarship which adds a bit.

Post-graduate study has all been part-time, funded either by my employer or self-funded.

 

[icowden]

Thanks to my dad exiting this world early, I qualified for a full grant when I went to Uni. I was in the first Uni wave to "benefit" from student loans. Tuition was paid as were my living costs (halls rental in first year, student house rental subsequently). Didn't claim dole during holidays, but did temp work to top up cash. Got a library job at the Uni, and my little group of friends also discovered that no-one was claiming from the Uni emergency / hardship fund. So we put in an application. Usually got about £150 a term!

We were the last group of music students to get lessons on both first and second study instruments. Most of my spare cash was spent on going into London and watching musicals (we were hard core!) on student standby.